Conner's Right

I was talking to Conner as we were doing math and he asked me why he had to do such hard math. We have been doing borrowing and carrying and a bit of multiplication and fractions. At the time we had this conversation I was having him do mental math. Conner: Why do I have to do such hard math?
Me: Well, because you can.
Conner: Yeah, but I am only in kindergarten and this is a 2nd grade math book.
Me: Well, it isn't my fault someone in this house is really good at math. Now who do you suppose it is?
Conner: (NOT PAUSING TO THINK)Zach!

He must certainly be right. For the third year in a row Zach has won the golden bulldog for Pasco High School for math. Zach is really good in math, he is good in other subjects too and we are pleased with his good work.

Shelf Reliance Give Away

Shelf Reliance has the most awesome system of organizing your food storage for easy rotation. That is something I am terrible at. Here is the web address so you can get in on this giveaway. It is called Free on Friday. They will be having lots of giveaways so stay tuned to their site. http://www.shelfreliance.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/15/

Pizza on the Porch

Brad and Conner drew a chalk pizza on the porch. A big one with lots of pepperoni. I was kind of annoyed as it is on the porch and not on the driveway where rain and such can eventually wash it off. So the next morning I get up to take the kids on their paper route and there is all of these little black pellets all over this pizza. It was really weird and I was a bit worried about what animal left those little pellets. After coming home from doing the papers I kind of examined them a bit closer and decided they reminded me of when we had rabbits when I was growing up, except rabbits have green pellets. I used trusty google and decided that it must be a goat or sheep. Thanks goodness not a rat or mouse or a bat. I couldn't really figure out how that could have happened. Kylee said she heard Zoey barking in the middle of the night. So later that day as I was bringing Kaitlin home from piano lessons and we watched a goat go up Carl's (Jacob's next door neighbor) front steps. I decided it wasn't crazy then to have decided the pellets were goat pellets then, but it was a bit far for the small goat to travel. Then the next week I heard a sharp bark from Zoey in the middle of the day, the kind of bark she use to do at the other house when a squirrel went up one of our trees. So I opened the front door and their was the goat! It ran off with Zoey chasing it. Then last Sunday when we came home from church the goat was on the Moon's porch with Zoey barking at it from the outside and Roxie barking at it from the inside. As we drove up the goat ran off towards Carl's house with Zoey in hot pursuit, but she is too slow. I teased Brad and Conner for making such delicious pizza on our porch as it attracted a goat and we all know they will eat anything, perhaps even chalk pizza's.

P.S. I wanted to call the title Poop on the Porch - but didn't want to be so gross from the get-go.

Where's Michael, Courtney and Erin When You Need Them?

Many years ago Michael, Courtney and Erin decided to dig a humongous hole in the back yard. Then spent hours upon hours upon hours doing this. The hole was deep. The hole was wide. It even had a tunnel. I know that somewhere I have a picture of them all in the hole (there was plenty of space in the hole for them all to sit and stretch out very comfortably at the same time), but I am a bit tired to go find it. Well - why am I thinking about this summer event today? This is why!



Brad is holding the handle of a shovel and the blade of the shovel is at the bottom of the hole.

So why does Brad think he is Stanley Yelnats (better read Holes by Louis Sachar if you don't know who that is)? We are putting in the sewer at our old house, and of course, we are too tight to pay someone to do work we can do ourselves, so Brad and I have been digging DEEP holes for the past two days. (Zach dug for a few hours too.) The family who are interested in buying our home are using an FHA loan and it is a requirement that a sewer be installed. So now you can see how much we like to play in the dirt.